


Bittersweet crush

by Iridescent_Ren



Category: Servamp (Anime & Manga)
Genre: College AU, Criminal psychology major Tsubaki, M/M, Merry Christmas Vlad!!, Music major Sakuya, Secret Santa Fic c:, Tsubasaku, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 07:36:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13119108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iridescent_Ren/pseuds/Iridescent_Ren
Summary: The place was quite humble and small, but it’s said the coffee was the best in town. The walls were decorated with floating shelves and old dusted books with green vines climbing the pale white paint. There were real flowers of all colours in pots all over the shop where workers would occasionally pause to water a few. He wouldn’t be surprised if it doubled as a flower shop.“Welcome to the Bittersweet Anthos café how may I help you?” A voice rang out, calling him from his thoughts. (Tsubasaku coffee shop/college au)





	Bittersweet crush

**Author's Note:**

> HI GUESS WHOS BACK AFTER 100000 YEARS AHA,,,,, anyway this is Vlad's fic for the kuromahi chats secret santa!! I hope you enjoy it c:

Tsubaki loudly laughed, pushing open the door with a dramatic flair that only he was able to pull off so well, his sidekick (best friend and dorm mate) Berukia following close behind.

“I still can’t believe you dyed your hair pink! Pink! It suits you Beru, it does, but how will you find a job?” Tsubaki commented with an amused smirk, pausing to take in the aesthetic of the café.

“Of course Tsubakyun! It was a dare but I kind of like it, might keep it. And I’m already a part time sufferer, pretty busy over here.” The other joked, a similar toothy grin on his face, pink ponytail swaying behind him. “Not bad… could do with a little more blood! AHAHA” Berukia said as they waited in line.

The place was quite humble and small, but it’s said the coffee was the best in town. The walls were decorated with floating shelves and old dusted books with green vines climbing the pale white paint. There were real flowers of all colours in pots all over the shop where workers would occasionally pause to water a few. He wouldn’t be surprised if it doubled as a flower shop.

“Welcome to the Bittersweet Anthos café how may I help you?” A voice rang out, calling him from his thoughts. Tsubaki felt his breath taken from his chest. The Barista stood ready to take his order and by all definitions of the word, he was stunning. Pale green curly hair much like the leaves of the café with piercing red eyes that matched the thorny roses on the counter. Speaking of thorny, he had an irritated glare stuck to his face. Bad mood maybe? Or possibly a resting bitch face.

“Sir please order.” He spoke again, this time Tsubaki noticed a silver lip piercing as well as a gradually more irritated tone and his brow furrowed more. Oops. He should order.

“Well dear Barista, what do you recommend? Do you have a favourite drink? AHAHAHAHA” Tsubaki burst out laughing, a maniac like expression passing his face before returning to normal as if nothing had happened. “That’s Not Amusing.”

The weirdness didn’t seem to bother the Barista as his eyes flicked to the chalk menu behind him. “It's not on the menu. It's a special.” he said briefly.

“I’ll take it.” Tsubaki winked. “And for you, Beru?”

“Caramel Indulgence! Yahoo!” Berukia licked his lips, he always had a sweet tooth, not that Tsubaki was much different. Tsubaki shrugged and looked pointedly at the attractive Barista as if to say you heard the man. 

The barista shrugged and added it to their order. "That'll be $8.35." He said as Tsubaki handed him a 10. The shop was fairly relaxed, not too busy, so the Barista abandoned the register to make the drinks. Tsubaki wasn't looking as he waited, he wasn't looking at how his tongue stuck out the corner of his lips when he was concentrating or how the annoyed twitch lessened slightly while he poured in the milk. 

"Berukia!" Tsubaki whispered to the side, his eyes widening in excitement, knowing he didn't have to say what it was because Berukia was looking right back at him with a knowing look. The two had an almost scary psychic like connection. 

"Uhm, the caramel indulgence is coming." He said, his husky voice breaking them out of their trance as he slid over a coffee cup. Tsubaki took it happily, humming as he took a sip. 

Three.

Two.

One- Tsubaki almost spat it out, a look of horror plastered to his face. "This… how do you drink this?! How many shots of expresso are in this?!" Tsubaki held back a gag, pushing it away dramatically. 

Another Barista popped up behind with a large smile, laughing as he said. "Trust me you don't want to know. I don't know how he does it either." The brown haired Barista nodded sympathetically. "I'll make you another on me." Tsubaki wished it was the other Barista making it, but accepted it none the less. 

"I've barely slept three hours this week fuck off Mahiru." The attractive green haired barista said with a groan, seeing Mahiru frown at him. "Go mom-mode on me later, I'm too tired." He cut the other off. Mahiru sighed, but seemed to accept it. 

"That can't be healthy. Why?" Tsubaki asked, making casual conversation as Sakuya brewed the caramel indulgence and Mahiru made something for him. 

"You can get my life story later, I'm working." Sakuya huffed, passing the Caramel Indulgence coffee over to Berukia while Mahiru gave Tsubaki his. Tsubaki and Berukia left to a table in the corner and Tsubaki had lit up like a Christmas tree. 

"Later Beru! He said Later!" Tsubaki let out a loud laugh, that continued for a minute too long as people uncomfortably moved away. "The décor in this place is really nice hey, Beru?" 

"I think the lettuce-head designed it, seems like his type of thing." Berukia commented, sipping his coffee. "Aah sweet! He makes a good coffee, I can die happy." 

"Lettuce-head…" Tsubaki burst out laughing again before abruptly stopping. "I should call him that."

"Do it Tsubakyun!" Tsubaki nodded in satisfaction. "How's your essay?"

Tsubaki pulled out his laptop, laughing again before letting out a pained sound. "I haven't started. It's the Preposition Of Social Bond Theory one, what a mouthful!" He groaned, throwing his head back as he opened the black document. "What about you?"

Berukia made a noise of disgust. "Don't even start."

***

"You like him."

"Don't."

"Do."

"Don't!" Sakuya ran his hands through his hair, flushing furiously. "I don't like him! He's just a random customer! I just noticed them because one had pink hair!"

"Mhmmmm." Mahiru sung happily, moving to the register to take another order. 

"Shut up you." Sakuya huffed fondly, shaking his head. It was hard to stay mad at Mahiru for long, even if he was a little meddlesome in Sakuya's love life. "I'm gonna take my 5." He called out, seeing as it wasn't too busy, sliding out into a both near to the counter and sighing. 

His eyes didn't catch the mysterious, almost cheeky, eyes of the Japanese customer from before. He also didn't notice as the pair slowly made their way over to him, attempting to hold back excited grins and failing as they slid into the opposite side of the booth. 

"Slacking off Lettuce-head?" The one in the red and black jumper said with amusement, pulling out his laptop once more. 

"I'm on break- What do you mean Lettuce head?!" Sakuya glared, his eyes narrowing in. This was about to become more troublesome than he could have imagined. 

"Are you gonna tell me your name or do I have to keep calling you that?" He laughed loudly before abruptly stopping. That seemed to be a habit for him. 

"As much as I'm fond of the nickname my names Sakuya, Sakuya Watanuki." Sakuya rolled his eyes, sarcasm dripping from his words. The red one's cheerful demeanour remained, completely unbothered by his total sarcasm. 

"I'm Berukia! This is Tsubaki!" Berukia spoke up, a grin on his face as he got into the red ones personal space. Best friends, probably. Sakuya ignored the way his heart dropped slightly, thinking about how it could be something more. 

"Do get the life story now?" Tsubaki asked impatiently, leaning over the table with an excited smirk as if he was learning a secret. 

"Nope. But you can get why I never sleep, I'm a music major with two jobs, I don't have time to sleep. Or… do anything, really." Sakuya sighed, a look passing his face before he shook it off. Mahiru appeared by them with a knowing smile, handing over a drink for Sakuya. "Thanks Mahiru, I owe you."

"Don't mention it." Mahiru waved, heading back behind the register. "Get some extra sleep tomorrow, I've asked Otogiri to cover your shift." Sakuya exhaled in relief, nodding in thanks. 

"Oh! Otogiri works here? AHAHAHA how interesting!" Tsubaki grinned evilly, Berukia quickly standing up and surveying the area. "Otogiri!!" Tsubaki called out, waving crazily to a worker with white hair, who promptly ignored him muttering something about a problem. Tsubaki said back down sadly, mocking hurt. 

"Ah. You're the annoying friends she was worrying would come in all the time to make a point of harassing her." Sakuya put it together in his head, raising an eye brow to Tsubaki. He has also distinctly remembering her saying that despite that they were still there with her through everything, a family to her, who had no one. But he didn't mention that. 

Surely if Otogiri who never liked anyone loved these people so much, they couldn't be too bad.

"Cold!" Berukia ran up to her and started to chat excitedly, she didn't give much of a response but didn't seem to mind the rambling too much. 

"What's your major? You're working on an essay right?" Sakuya casually asked, sipping his inhuman black like-my-soul coffee loaded with a level of caffeine that could kill. 

"Psychology, I haven't even started." Tsubaki said with a groan. "Hey, hey." Sakuya raised an eye brow. "If it sucks so much… why don't you drop out?" 

Sakuya paused in shock, dropping his coffee and cursing as it went all over the table. Tsubaki jumped back like a startled cat, eyes narrowing into slits like a fox. Something about the cute action made Sakuya want to smile. Mahiru had quickly come over with wipes to help. 

"Thanks Mahiru, sorry Tsubaki." He said curtly, giving an inch of a smile. Mahiru and Tsubaki both watched him in slight shock. Tsubaki's expression gained a bright happiness once more, lighting up at the fact that he'd gotten a smile, even if it was a small one from someone who didn't seem like he smiled much. 

Mahiru smiled knowingly, leaving them be. "Treat him well!" The cheeky brown haired barista didn't hesitate to call out, getting an embarrassed flush to both of their cheeks.

"Shut up!" Sakuya rolled his eyes and sat down, gears in his head turning chunkily. 

"Sorry! I didn't mean for it to startle you." Tsubaki chuckled. "Though that was amusing."

"Don't worry about it." Sakuya didn't say any more. He had never even thought of it. The plan was always to go to college and graduate, he'd think about the rest later, he just had to survive. Well, he was surviving. But he'd never thought about if he was really living. 

Not once when he'd complained about the workload, or pulled another all-nighter or broke down in tears in the bathroom had anyone suggested he just drop out. As if it was simple. But maybe it was. Time was up by then, Sakuya stood up and walked back to the register without even a goodbye. 

Though it didn't particularly deter Tsubaki, the guy was as stubborn as it got. Tsubaki smiled giddily, writing down his number on a small piece of paper with a small fox drawing on a napkin nearby, putting it in his pocket before walking up to where Berukia still rambled and Sakuya waited for customers. 

"Oh? Not sick of me yet?" Sakuya joked. Tsubaki wasn't an idiot, he was a psychology major with depression, he knew a joke to cover up insecurities when he saw one.

"Never Sakkun~." Tsubaki winked, sliding his arm over the counter and sliding him the note while Sakuya stood, shock written all over his face.

"Aw Tsubakyun you broke him!" Berukia laughed loudly, his voice lowering a couple octaves as he left the café.

"Don't think this is the last of me! AHAHAHA" Tsubaki giddly skipped out, following Berukia with a large smile that wouldn't leave his face. He'd finally found something interesting, or rather, someone interesting. Back at their shared dorm Tsubaki couldn't find the focus to work on his essay, constantly checking his phone. Every time he checked he'd have a hopeful childish excitement, sulk for a bit, then repeat, much like a goldfish.

Until his phone buzzed. 

[Unknown number]  
Hey. It's Sakuya. Save the number before I change my mind. 

Tsubaki certainly wasted no time in doing that. 

[Me]  
Sakkun!! You texted me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 000:

[Sakkun <3]  
Regretting that right about

[Sakkun <3]  
Now.

[Me]  
COLD SAKKUN! :( 

[Sakkun <3]  
How's your essay shaping up hotshot 

[Me]  
,,, shit man. 

[Sakkun <3]  
I feel ya there. 

[Sakkun <3]  
So the café closes at 6 so it's obviously closed now, but since we're friendly with the owner he lets us stay back and make ourselves drinks and study. Mahiru's forcing me to invite you. Get here in 10 or I'm locking the place up. 

Tsubaki leaped at the chance, putting on a red sweater and shoving his phone in the back pocket of his jeans. "Beru! Man the fort I'm heading out!" He shouted, grabbing his bad and saluting back to the pink haired idiot half falling off the top bed of their shared bunk. Berukia saluted back. 

"Aye sir!"

He didn't care about the wind rustling his hair and clothes, dusting his face with a light flushed pink from the sprint to the café just off campus. He gave a lop sided grin when he made it to the door in record time, patting down his hair with a laugh as Mahiru let him inside.

"I'm sorry, Sakuya made you run didn't he? There's really no rush." Mahiru smiled, shooting a look at Sakuya who shrugged innocently. 

"It's okay! AHHAHA…."

"Boring." 

Tsubaki took a seat in the larger circle booth where Sakuya, Mahiru and Otogiri were already there with their laptops open and messy papers and books scrawled across the table. He did notice a beautiful flower blooming in the centre of the table, Tsubaki was sure it was a real one too. 

"Aw man, I'm the only normal eye coloured person here." Mahiru groaned and said. "Are all of you secretly part of some weird vampire cult?" Otogiri shrugged, not helping Mahiru's dilemma much. 

"Well if I told you that… I'd have to kill you." Tsubaki smirked, "Joking joking!" he said with a laugh after seeing Mahiru's horrified expression Sakuya couldn't help but snicker too. 

"Well I am going to go make us drinks, try not to KILL anyone while I'm gone." Mahiru added, giving them a parental glare as he headed over to the coffee machine. "What does everyone want?"

"Tea, camomile." Otogiri spoke up quietly, continuing to type away on her laptop. 

"The usual. Thanks Mahiru." Sakuya ordered. 

"Hmmmm. Something sweet! Surprise me." Tsubaki grinned, pulling out his own laptop and admittedly terrible study notes. It was a peaceful environment he didn't realize he needed, Tsubaki felt more at home than ever with books dusted with age, bright green plant life surrounding them and the soft whirl of the coffee machine. 

"So you said you knew the owner?" Tsubaki asked casually, starting off the intro to his essay.

"Mhm. The owner is Mahiru's uncle, he's not here a lot but he lets us work here for great pay and we kinda made the place." Sakuya answered. 

"Sakuya's being humble. He did the whole interior décor!" Mahiru called out from over the sound of the coffee machine. 

"Ah, Berukia was right. He did say it seemed like something you had done, though I think it was a jab at your hair." Tsubaki nodded, impressed. It had a natural home-like feel too it. Sakuya's eye twitched, but he didn't comment on it. 

"Thanks. Mahiru did a lot too, he and Otogiri created all of the drinks here. They're both incredible baristas." Sakuya said with a chuckle

"It took us days of trying out different things and taste testing. We made some of the best and worst drinks ever." Otogiri piped up, still not meeting eye contact with everyone. "Mahiru wanted to try weird things. It was a problem." 

"I was feeling adventurous!" Mahiru shot back, bringing them all their drinks in two trips. "Tsubaki yours is not quite off the menu, but it's a really sweet mix between a coffee and a milkshake, something I created just the other day and a few people said it was nice." He said with a smile. So he was a taste tester. Not that he minded. "Oh and I added a few extra shots of expresso to keep you alive." 

"What an angel." Tsubaki took his and took a large sip, sighing in delight. 

"Oh god you sound like Licht…" Mahiru sat down and shivered. 

"Licht? Who's that?" Tsubaki tilted his head to the side. 

"Someone in Sakuya's music course. Trust me you don't wanna know." Mahiru shook his head and had some of his own drink, Tsubaki seemed to accept it and went back to writing. "What major are you in Tsubaki?" 

"Criminal Psychology!" He proudly proclaimed "What about you guys?" 

"I'm in cooking! Once I've finished this course I'm going to go into business. My dream is to take over this café for my Uncle." Mahiru said with a soft smile. 

"… Criminal Psychology with Tsubaki." Otogiri quietly said, getting a thumbs up of encouragement from Mahiru. 

"We've already established I'm in Music." Sakuya sighed, Tsubaki noticed the way his work piled over everyone else's and how the bags under his eyes only seemed to get worse by night. He must have a strong dream to be working himself that hard, it was admirable really.

The table stared at him in silence, waiting for him to continue. 

Oh. Tsubaki said that aloud. He always did have a bad habit of spilling his thoughts. Sakuya sighed, moving the conversation on without answering Tsubaki's musings. 

"So how did you and Otogiri meet?" Sakuya asked, regretting asking instantly after seeing a grin ever so slowly growing on Tsubaki's face. 

"Otogiri would you like to start the story?" Tsubaki offered, seeing her nod her head. 

***

"Welcome to your first practical! Please keep in mind no one was actually hurt for this, it's a simulation to see how well you can work as a team to solve a murder and analyse the behaviours of criminals." The instructor said while Otogiri made notes, preparing a small notebook to write down details about the crime scene. 

Before anyone could start a black haired man in a red jumper stood where the chalk outline of the body was. Ah. Tsubani or something wasn't it? The loud student who would interrupt the whole class with obnoxious laughter at things that weren't even funny then strangely stop abruptly and continue as if nothing happened. It was a problem. 

He dramatically put his hand over his chest. 

"I've… been shot… tell my husband I love him….." Tsubaki coughed out, falling to the ground where the chalk outline was. The class erupted in snickers and giggles. 

"Tsuba..ni or something, wasn't it?" Otorgiri mumbled, stepping up. 

"Tsubaki! Tsubani…" Tsubaki paused. "AHAHAHAHA… Not interesting at all." 

"Tsubaki?"

"Yes?"

"Dead people don't laugh." Otogiri said bluntly. "No- move your hand a little to the right. Twist your foot over." Otogiri knelt down next to him, instructing him. Tsubaki watched her with eyes wide and confused. "If you're going to pretend to be dead you might as well do it right." 

Tsubaki laughed again, following her instructions easily. "Ah, I can't twist my foot."

"You can't?" Otogiri looked at his leg and back at the chalk outline. It didn't make sense. 

"Yeah, I'd have to break my ankle and unfortunately I'm looking forward to being able to walk…" Tsubaki tried to joke but Otogiri didn't respond, writing furiously in her notebook. "What are you writing?" 

"The victims leg must have been twisted, or their ankle broken. Tsubaki stand up and take a few steps back." Otogiri instructed, he willingly did so. "Now fall."

"That's gonna hurt!"

"Fall." Tsubaki sighed dramatically, trying to work out a way to fall into the shape of the chalk before figuring it out and doing so, screaming as he hit the ground. "You're obedient." Otogiri commented with a shrug.

"A thankyou would be nice." Tsubaki scoffed, sitting up again. "Find anything?"

"To fall you had to twist your feet, one behind the other. This implies the victim was running away." Otogiri said briefly, Tsubaki lit up as he put it together in his head. 

"OH!" Tsubaki quickly offered. "There's a gas station not far from here where me and my best friend always go to get slurpees. It's open all day and night, assuming the crime happened sometime around 12 - 4am we can check who was on shift around that time and ask for witnesses." 

Otogiri nodded quickly, not a bad idea at all. "I'll call in the sketch artist, Higan."

"I'll check out who was in the shop at that time including customers!" Tsubaki and Otogiri shared a short high five, Tsubaki grinning from ear to ear. "Oh and I never got your name?"

Otogiri paused. "It's Otogiri." She said softly, a smile passing by her own face. 

The two got a shared A for the assignment. 

*** 

"That’s incredible. Tsubaki re-enacting a scene from some porno he watched solved a murder." Sakuya said with a deadpan expression, getting a hit on the head from Mahiru. 

"Don't be rude Sakuya! He's actually very impressed at your thought process for solving it." Mahiru smiled. 

"How did you meet Oto?" Tsubaki asked, taking another sip of his drink. "And oh my god what is this drink called? I'm calling it this is my regular." Mahiru quietly beamed on the side. 

"Our story isn’t quite as interesting. She was looking for a job and we hired her, she makes good food. Oh I never mentioned. Mahiru does the works, Otogiri's on the register and baking and I'm on the register and drinks." Sakuya said. "Me and Mahiru have been best friends for quite a while back though."

"Primary school!" Mahiru piped in with a wide smile. 

"Same with me and Beru." Tsubaki got a smirk thinking about the trouble the two got up to. 

"Suddenly I feel bad for your teacher." Sakuya said rolling his eyes and looking back at his paper. "Ugh. I can't do this anymore." He whined quietly. Tsubaki bit his lip, watching in concern. 

"Can I take you somewhere?" Tsubaki asked, seeing everyone watch him in shock. "You look like you could use a distraction. Anyone have a car I can borrow?" Tsubaki grinned, seeing Sakuya get the light back in his eyes. 

"I have a motorbike. I'll drive you just tell me where to go, it's parked outside." Sakuya stood up without hesitation, slamming his laptop shut and sliding out of the booth. 

"Lead the way cutie." Tsubaki winked, starting to put his laptop and papers back in the bag. 

"Ah Tsubaki don't worry about your bag. We'll get Berukia to come pick it up sometime. It's kinda a deal we have with friends here, we look out for each other." Mahiru grinned at the two of them as Tsubaki put his bag back down and followed Sakuya out the door. "Don't forget to wear protection!" He shouted as Sakuya slammed the door. 

Mahiru sunk back into his seat with a little knowing grin. 

"He was talking about the motorbike!" Sakuya stuttered quickly, an angry red crossing his face as he swung his leg over the slick thin green motorbike. 

"Sure he was." Tsubaki laughed, hopping on behind Sakuya. Sakuya passed back a helmet that Tsubaki put on, the gap illuminating his red narrow eyes. Pretty, is the word that would come to Sakuya's mind. They reminded him a lot of a rose, beautiful but with an undeniable danger that only drew you in. "Don't you have a helmet?"

"Helmets are for losers." Sakuya said with a snort. "Hold on." Tsubaki didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around Sakuya's waist, smiling into his helmet as he rested his head on Sakuya's shoulder and Sakuya made no move to push him off. Sakuya revved and went for it, speeding out of the parking lot and leaving the small cute café behind them, city lights flying by them. 

Tsubaki felt the wind rush at his face, laughing as he held onto Sakuya tighter. Not bad. Not bad at all. Sakuya hit the brakes suddenly as the light turned red, turning his head to yell out to Tsubaki. 

"Where are we heading?"

"It's not far. Just a couple blocks off campus, know where the nearest hot topic is? Of course you do I bet all your wardrobe is from there, anyway It's not that but its near there." Tsubaki told him as the light turned green and Sakuya sped off again. 

He seemingly had an annoyed twitch to his eye once again that made Tsubaki chuckle. It was easy to annoy him, but also easy to embarrass him. Sakuya was interesting. 

Not too long after he roughly slid into a parking spot and slammed the brakes, jumping off the motorbike and turning off the engine in the speed of someone who's done it for years. His hair was messy and ruffled but still somehow had its signature curl and the cute effortless styled look, his face dusted pink from the wind on his face with his lips a bruised pale colour, glistening around the edges. Tsubaki wasn't thinking about the silver piercing on his tongue that he saw when Sakuya spoke, and totally wasn't thinking about his lips. 

"I'm not emo by the way." Sakuya bit, huffing. Tsubaki took off the helmet, knowing his hair was a mess as he threw his head back laughing. 

"We're going to the arcade. It's not open all night but it is open pretty late." Tsubaki reached out to take Sakuya's hand, intertwining their fingers as he started to walk along. Sakuya squeezed back and he couldn't keep the happiness from making a skip in his step. 

Once they arrived it was just like you'd imagine a typical arcade, tacky carpet, bright neon lights and signs jumping out at you from every direction and games that looked like they were taken straight from the 80s. It was perfect. Tsubaki grabbed his coins from his back pocket and jumped around from game to game excitedly like a puppy. 

"What do you wanna start with?" Tsubaki grinned happily. Sakuya, still holding onto his hand dragged him over to a shooting game before letting go and grabbing the blue gun. They both missed the comforting warmth. Tsubaki grabbed the red one and aimed it at Sakuya jokingly. 

Sakuya rolled his eyes and slid a coin in. Tsubaki screeched when a zombie appeared, madly shooting at it in horror while Sakuya watched. It took him a second, holding his hand over his face trying to hold it in before he erupted in a laugh, only laughing harder as Tsubaki still continued to fail to shoot the huge target on the screen. 

"Rigged I'm telling you. Rigged!" Tsubaki complained, throwing his arms in the air. "We're playing the dance machine next." He declared, putting a coin into both of the sides of the dance machine and standing on the left. Sakuya shrugged and got on the one next to him.

Tsubaki tapped his back foot on the back left arrow a few times before picking a song, gripping the red handlebar at the back and stretching as the song started for both of them. It was Wrong by MAX, a personal favourite of Tsubaki's that Sakuya found he didn't quite mind either. The song started off slow, the screen black with no arrows before it started with a small electronic drop with arrows starting to fly up to the top. Sakuya struggled to keep up, as the lyrics started he had already lost momentum and was a step behind the screen. 

He found his eyes drawn to the side, watching in slight shock as Tsubaki expertly jumped from one arrow to the next, his on a higher setting than Sakuya's was. A bead of sweat dropped down his forehead but that didn't deter him, he continued raging on with a smirk on his face as he moved his hips around and jumped on the middle on excitedly. 

Sakuya had lost himself in Tsubaki's dancing, and it wasn't long before he lost the game. 

"Something wrong?" Tsubaki asked, heaving slightly, a smug look never leaving his face. "Like what you see?"

"I- shut up!" Sakuya flushed and glared while Tsubaki laughed loudly, drawing a lot of attention to them. Tsubaki happily took his hand as they stood off the dance machine, as if proudly declaring he knew him so Sakuya couldn’t escape pretending to be a stranger.

Tsubaki slowly took him over to the guitar hero game, seeing the colour leave Sakuya's face as he wore a complicated expression. Tsubaki knew why. 

"Hey, trust me. Just one game." Tsubaki said with a smile, Sakuya hesitated before putting in the coins and taking the guitar. It took him a second but once he started Sakuya got into it, playing it seriously and getting ridiculously high scores, all the while a large smile was on his face Tsubaki didn't think he even realized was there. 

"Another go!" He took a coin from Tsubaki and slot it in, playing again on a harder level, still enjoying it. 

"Ano-"

"That's all our coins Sakuya." Tsubaki laughed, seeing his face twist. "Follow me! I have another place up my sleeve, this is closing soon anyway." He hopped out and onto the path, continuing down the opposite direction to Sakuya's motorbike. 

"My bikes the other way you know." 

"I know." Tsubaki walked on without an explanation and Sakuya soon followed, he'd started to learn that surprises were a thing to expect. It wasn't a long walk before he turned a sharp corner, picking up the pace down a little alley like street where Sakuya was forced to follow. 

"Seriously are we almost there? I'm starting to think you plan on murdering me-" Sakuya started to complain before the wind was taken straight out of him. Out of the alley was a small place, it wasn’t huge or spectacular, but the view was. Stars glistened above clearly, brightly shinning in the dark night sky above the soft glow of the lights. 

"Sorry if I stepped out of line by making you play guitar hero. I just… isn't music meant to be fun?" Tsubaki said softly, smiling at the view. 

"No, you were right. I… you were right. I don't even have a dream, a dream job or life or… I was just doing music because I liked it. But I'd forgotten what liking music even was, I'd forgotten how much fun it was to rock out on the guitar because I was too busy writing essays on how the guitar has changed and shaped modern music off all genres." Sakuya laughed bitterly. "I… I think I've made up my mind about a lot of things." He said quietly. 

"I'm glad." Tsubaki said briefly. "I don't like seeing you like that. You're much prettier when you're smiling." Tsubaki said, laughing. 

"Tsubaki?" 

"Yes?"

"You're not lying… right?" Sakuya said carefully, facing him. 

"… No?"

"Good, because I hate liars." Sakuya leant in and closed his eyes, not caring about the rest of the world around as Tsubaki's gentle lips were on his. The moment was short, but the memories would last a lifetime. The stress of school and the countless responsibilities didn't matter- the only things that mattered then were Tsubaki and the glistening stars above.


End file.
